Online reporting tool for conferencing customers

ABSTRACT

Embodiments consistent with the present invention provide an integrated system for conferencing services reporting to support customer billing needs. Systems consistent with the present invention enable a customer to retrieve and use integrated usage data, including data for unbilled conferencing services. Furthermore, systems consistent with the present invention provide an integrated account management interface to enable a customer to retrieve and use account information in real time and to manage a conferencing services account with ease. Still further, systems consistent with the present invention enable a customer to establish multiple levels of security to easily manage multiple users with multiple information needs and responsibilities. Systems consistent with the present invention also provide tools to analyze and track moderator conferencing schedules to enhance accurate timekeeping and billing.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a division of application Ser. No. 11/518,127, filed on Sep. 11,2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,340,266 which claims the benefit of the filingdate of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/716,092, filed Sep. 13,2005, titled “Online Reporting Tool for Conferencing Customers,” of AnneK. Bingaman, Dagny Boyd Evans, Boban Mathew, Kesah Schmitt, and AlinaScott, both of which are incorporated in their entirety herein byreference.

FIELD

This disclosure is directed to the field of conferencing services and,more particularly, to billing systems for moderated conferencingservices that are chargeable to a client or project.

BACKGROUND

Businesses today rely heavily on conferencing services to enable peopleto meet without having to be in the same physical location. Audioconferencing, video conferencing, and Web conferencing are allwell-known services available to businesses that do business on aregional, national, or global scale. Typically, a business makes areservation for a conference through a conferencing services provider.The conferencing services provider establishes a “virtual location,”e.g., a dial-in phone number or Website address, for the conferenceparticipants. After the conference is over, the conferencing servicesprovider bills the business for the cost of the conference.

Conventional conferencing services providers suffer from severaldrawbacks. For example, if a customer bills reimbursable expenses to itsown clients, someone in the customer's financial services departmentmust manually process each conference bill to enable the customer topass conferencing charges on to its clients. For a customer withhundreds of clients, this not only takes a great deal of time but humanmistakes may result in billing one client for another's conferences,resulting in client-relation problems. Even when conferencing servicesbills are made available to customers electronically, the data providedis typically limited to call-level information such as the number ofparticipants, the overall cost of the conference, etc.

Furthermore, management of conference services involves a number ofdifferent people, each requiring different levels of access andinformation. A telecommunications person may be involved inadministering accounts, while the company's financial staff may beinvolved in processing bills, and an administrator may be designated tooversee the company's dealings with the conferencing services provider.Depending on individual needs and responsibilities, each person may needaccess to different information. This may be very difficult to managefor a conventional conferencing services provider.

Still further, conference participants frequently participate in severalconferences in the same day or week. Often, participants may discussseveral different billable matters during a single conference. Forparticipants who bill for their time, such as attorneys or consultants,it becomes difficult to keep track of time and topics of multipleconferences. While a conventional conferencing services provider mayprovide the conference facility and general information about aconference, there are no tools readily available to assist participantsand their companies in accurately and fully capturing time spent onconferences.

Systems and methods consistent with embodiments of the present inventionaddress these and other drawbacks of conventional conferencing servicesprovider systems.

SUMMARY

Methods and systems are disclosed for managing moderators ofconferences. A request to create a moderator report is received from acustomer via a network, wherein the request includes an identifier forat least one moderator associated with the customer. Account detailsrelating to conferences assigned to the at least one moderator arecompiled to create the moderator report, and the moderator report isprovided to the customer via the network.

In other embodiments, methods and systems are disclosed for creating anunbilled usage data report for conferencing services. Usage datarelating to a conference is received, and the usage data and at leastone billing rate associated with a customer are used to calculateunbilled charges for each conference related to the usage data. Anestimated tax is calculated for each conference related to the usagedata, and the unbilled usage data report is provided to the customer,wherein the unbilled usage data report includes the unbilled charges andthe estimated tax.

In other embodiments, methods and systems are disclosed for managingmoderator time spent on conferences. A selection for the moderator and atime period are received from a customer via a network. A record of timespent by a moderator on conferences is created, based on each conferenceassociated with the moderator during the time period, and the record isprovided to the customer via a network.

Further, in other embodiments, systems and methods are disclosed foronline reporting of conferencing services. An account informationcomponent tracks information for a customer. A management componentmanages moderators associated with the customer. A usage reportscomponent generates online reports related to the moderators' usage ofconferencing services. A billing reports component provides onlinereports related to billed charges for conferencing services provided tothe customer.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inpart in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious fromthe description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of theinvention and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a reporting system for conferencing customers,consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for authenticating aconferencing customer, consistent with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary account information componentof a reporting tool, consistent with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for generating a samplemoderator report, consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary moderator report, consistent with embodiments ofthe present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for accessing accountinformation details, consistent with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary management component of areporting tool, consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for adding a moderator,consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary user interface for adding accounts using areporting tool, consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary user interface for deleting moderators using areporting tool, consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is an exemplary user interface for searching for moderators,consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for collecting andprocessing unbilled usage data, consistent with embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 13 is an exemplary user interface for searching unbilled usagedata, consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is an exemplary user interface for presenting a report ofunbilled usage data, consistent with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 15 is an exemplary user interface for presenting unbilled usagecall details, consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is an exemplary user interface for searching historicalparticipant usage data, consistent with embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an exemplary billing reports component ofa reporting tool, consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for creating invoicedata, consistent with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a diagram of exemplary invoice report search criteria,consistent with embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 20 is an exemplary user interface for searching time managementdata, consistent with embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examplesof which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whereverpossible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout thedrawings to refer to the same or like parts.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary reporting system 100 for conferencingcustomers consistent with an embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 1, a customer 102 may connect to reporting tool 106 via anetwork 104. Customer 102 may include, for example, a user associatedwith a customer account, such as an employee, moderator, or client, or auser with permission to access reporting tool 106. In certainembodiments, customer 102 may connect to online reporting tool 106 bylogging into a website with a unique username and password, as describedin more detail below with respect to FIG. 2.

Reporting tool 106 may include an account information component 108, amanagement component 110, a usage reports component 112, and a billingreports component 114. Reporting tool 106 provides flexible, integratedservices to conferencing customers, including, for example, the abilityto: 1) view current unbilled and previously billed usage details andcharges, 2) download billing files, 3) query historical invoiceinformation, 4) download time management data, 5) access accountinformation, e.g., by searching for a moderator or downloading amoderator report, and 6) submit requests for moderator additions,deletions, and materials or training.

Reporting tool 106 may, in certain embodiments, use a relationaldatabase and tools such as JAVA™ to create an interactive and dynamicreporting application that significantly enhances the customerexperience. Reporting tool 106 may be implemented on a secure server andmade accessible via various login methods, such as, for example, secureusernames and passwords uniquely assigned to each customer 102. In someembodiments, reporting tool 106 may restrict access of certain customers102 to certain functions. For example, a customer might specify that oneof its users should have access to administrative tools (e.g., accountinformation), but not usage data (e.g., billing reports and usage data).

Reporting tool 106 may connect to or include various databases, such asmoderator database 122, usage database 124, and billing database 126.Moderator database 122 may store information relating to moderators,such as moderator identification information or moderator histories.Usage database 124 may store information relating to reporting tool 106usage, such as customer usage data, line-item usage data, call data, orother data. Billing database 126 may store information relating tobilling, such as, for example, charges for services, details relating toconferences such as times and lengths of conferences, etc. Access todatabases 122, 124, and 126 (if implemented as separate databasesystems) may be facilitated through a direct communication link, a localarea network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) and/or other suitableconnections. Systems and methods of the present invention are notlimited to separate databases or even to the use of a database, as datamay come from practically any source, such as the Internet, a storagemedium such as a disk or flash drive, and other organized collections ofdata.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary process for authenticating customer 102and allowing customer 102 to access reporting tool 106. In oneembodiment, when customer 102 supplies a username and password (step202), the system may verify that the username and password are valid(step 204). If the username and password are not validated for anyreason, (step 204, No), the process ends. If the username and passwordare validated (step 204, Yes), the system may retrieve customerlimitations (step 206). Customer limitations may be, for example,pre-assigned to unique customers, groups of customers, or certain users,and may prevent customer 102 from, for example, viewing certain data,performing certain functions, or accessing certain components inreporting tool 106. Next, any customer limitations are applied tocomponents in reporting tool 106 (step 208). The components thatcustomer 102 may access are presented to the user (step 210). In certainembodiments, all components of the tool are presented to the user. Inother embodiments, some customers may only access management component106 and usage reports component 110, and other users may only accessbilling reports component 114.

The components of the online reporting tool will now be described ingreater detail with reference to the attached drawings. In particular,account information component 108 is described with reference to FIGS.3-6, management component 110 is described with reference to FIGS. 7-11,usage reports component 112 is described with reference to FIGS. 12-16,and billing reports 114 component is described with reference to FIGS.17-19.

Account Information Component

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary account information component 108.Account information component 108 allows conferencing customers toretrieve account information for active moderators, e.g., individualsthat request or participate in conferences, such as audio conferences.For example, if a law firm is a conferencing customer, then itsattorneys are the moderators. Account information for all moderators maybe retrieved by searching for an individual moderator, or by downloadinga moderator report that contains account information for some or all ofthe moderators related to a conferencing customer.

As shown in FIG. 3, account information component 108 may include amoderator report tool 302 and a moderator account information tool 304.Moderator report tool 302 allows a customer to download a moderatorreport. Moderator account information tool 304 allows a user to searchfor an individual moderator account using search criteria such as, forexample, first name, last name, user ID, moderator passcode, orparticipant passcode.

Moderator Report

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 400 for creating amoderator report using moderator report tool 302. As shown in FIG. 4,customer 102 logs in to the system (step 401), for example via knownwebpage login methods, or using the process described above with respectto FIG. 2. If the user has valid permission to access, modify, and/orcreate a moderator report (step 402, Yes), for example, as determined bythe validation process described above with respect to FIG. 2, moderatorreport tool 302 may, in certain embodiments, receive a selection for amoderator report from customer 102 (step 404). The moderator report mayallow customer 102 to download and view details for active accounts, andwhich may have been previously established, for example, by accountinformation component 108. The system searches moderator database 122containing moderator and conference information for moderatorsassociated with the customer (step 406).

Moderator report tool 302 creates a file containing moderatorinformation (step 408), which is delivered to the user (step 410). Inone embodiment, moderator report tool 302 may deliver the file tocustomer 102 as an online report via the Internet. For example, FIG. 5illustrates an exemplary moderator report, which may be delivered viathe Internet. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, the moderatorreport may include various data fields, such as company (e.g.,customer), last name, first name, user ID, moderator passcode,participant passcode, toll free dial-in number, international dial-innumber, date added, employee code, and permanent billing code. Otherfields, such as client number and matter number, may also be included inthe moderator report to provide account information to conferencingcustomers. In another embodiment, the file may be delivered to customer102 as a spreadsheet. In certain embodiments, moderators or users mayselect which fields to include in the moderator report, and maycustomize or sort reports, for example by customer, type of conference,or participant.

Moderator Account Information

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for locating accountinformation for a moderator. In certain embodiments, customer 102 mayfirst log into reporting tool 106 (step 601) and have access permissionsvalidated before locating account information, as described above withrespect to FIG. 2. If customer 102 has valid access (step 602, Yes),then moderator account information tool 304 receives a selection forsearch criteria for a moderator (step 603). The search criteria mayinclude, for example, first name, last name, user ID, moderatorpasscode, participant passcode, and other information. Customers mayspecify whether search results must include matches for all criteria,some criteria, or any criteria.

After customer 102 enters the search criteria, moderator accountinformation tool 304 searches moderator database 122 for information onmoderators related to the criteria (step 604). Reporting tool 106displays matching results (step 606). Search results for each moderatormay include, for example, moderator information, conference information,and conference options. Customer 102 may elect to send the results,including instructions for use, to an address of their choice (e.g., ane-mail address), print the results, or perform other actions. Forexample, customer 102 may, in certain embodiments, modify the results,request that a moderator be deleted from the system, request materialsfor the moderator, or view the next moderator who matches the searchcriteria. Reporting tool 106 receives the user's input for an action(step 608), performs the action, and may send a confirmation to the userthat the action was performed, for example after sending or printing theresults.

If the user elects to refine the search or start a new search (step 610,Yes), the process may loop back and continue the process. If the userelects not to refine the search or start a new search (step 610, No),the process ends.

Management Component

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary management component 110, which mayoffer conferencing customers a simple way to add and delete accounts andrequest materials or training for existing accounts. As shown in FIG. 7,management component 110 may include an add account component 702 to adda customer or user account, a delete account component 704 to delete anaccount, and a request component 706 to allow a customer to requesttraining and materials for moderators, or request training for anyindividual.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for requesting a newmoderator account. First, in some embodiments, customer 102 may log ontoreporting tool 106 (step 801) as described above with respect to FIG. 2.As shown in FIG. 8, if the user has valid access (step 802, Yes),reporting tool 106 may receive a customer selection to add an account(step 804), for example by selecting “add account” using add accountcomponent 702 from a webpage. The system may receive information fromcustomer 102 to create a moderator record for the new account (step806).

Customer 102 may supply the information, in certain embodiments, via anonline form. FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary user interface for anonline form that customer 102 may use to add a new moderator. The onlineform, as shown in FIG. 9, may contain fields for each piece ofinformation needed to create a new account, such as name, phone number,time zone, employee code, assistant's name, assistant's e-mail address,and assistant's phone number. The online form may also allow thecustomer to enter information for the employee entering the new accountinformation, such as name, phone number, e-mail address, and any specialinstructions. Turning back to FIG. 8, once the new account informationhas been entered, add account component 702 may submit the moderatorcreation request to a conferencing service provider (step 808).

In certain embodiments, after the online form is submitted with therequested moderator's information, a summary of the submittedinformation appears in a box at the top of the page or in a pop-upwindow, for example. The fields in the user interface may then be resetto empty, allowing additional requests to be made. Each time, amoderator's information appears in the box at the top of the page, andfrom this box, the new requests may be edited, removed, or submitted asa whole. The system may automatically send the submissions to aconferencing services provider for processing. For example, the systemmay send the submissions to a system-defined destination, such as ane-mail address.

Customer 102 may also delete moderators, using, for example, an onlineform that allows a customer to submit a request to inactivate one ormore accounts corresponding to one or more moderators. FIG. 10illustrates an exemplary user interface for an online form that customer102 may use to delete moderators. The form, as shown in FIG. 10, maycontain data fields to collect information to identify a moderator fordeleting, such as first name, last name, and/or moderator passcode. Ifthe information is unknown, customer 102 may search for the moderatordirectly using, for example, one or more of the following criteria:first name, last name, user ID, moderator passcode, and participantpasscode. FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary user interface for searchingfor moderators with sample search criteria. Once the appropriatemoderator has been selected, the user may add the moderator to a requestmodule 1002. The user interfaces shown in FIGS. 10-11 may also allowcustomer 102 to enter information for the user making the request todelete a moderator, such as the user's name, phone number, e-mailaddress, and any special instructions. As shown in FIG. 10, customer 102may select moderators for editing, removal from the request, orsubmission using request component 706.

Training

As discussed above with respect to FIG. 7, request component 706 mayallow customer 102 to request training for existing moderators (such ashard copy or electronic training materials). To request such materials,customer 102 may designate a moderator to receive training, or searchfor a moderator using, for example, the same search method and criteriaused in the delete account tool described above with respect to FIGS. 10and 11. Moderator search options may include: first name, last name,user ID, moderator passcode, participant passcode, etc.

When customer 102 selects a moderator from the search results, themoderator's information may automatically populate the fields on thematerial request form. Customer 102 may choose from various options todefine a request for each moderator, such as request hard copy materialsfor a moderator or moderator's assistant, request training for amoderator or a moderator's assistant, etc. These options may bepresented, for example, using a drop down list or radio buttons. Oncemoderator information has been entered, either by searching for theinformation or manually entering the information, and the request hasbeen defined, customer 102 may request the materials. Once submitted,the request may be sent to the conferencing services provider, e.g., bysending it to a system-defined e-mail address, for processing.

In certain embodiments, customers may request training separate fromrequesting materials. Training requests for materials may be related toa specific moderator account, or training requests may be made for anyindividual, such as an administrator or secretary. In other embodiments,moderators themselves may request training and/or materials.

Usage Reports Component

As described above, usage reports component 112 may provide customerswith access to historical usage data and to unbilled usage data, stored,for example, in usage database 124. Usage data may contain data aboutmoderators' usage of conferencing services, such as summary-level callinformation as well as billing information and participant-level calldetails. Usage data may be updated in real-time or on a periodic basis,such as daily, hourly, etc.

Unbilled Usage Data

In certain embodiments, customer 102 may review an unbilled usage reportincluding, for example, unbilled usage data and associated estimatedcharges for conferencing services. This data may be designated as“unbilled” because it covers usage since the customer's last invoice,for example. In one example, if the last invoice run for a customeroccurred, for example, in the bill cycle ending Jan. 14, 2004, all callsthrough approximately Jan. 12, 2004 may have been billed to thecustomer. Prior to the next invoice run, e.g., on Feb. 14, 2004,unbilled usage data for that customer would include call records fromJan. 13, 2004 through Feb. 12, 2004 (i.e., the cutoff for conferences tobe included in the Feb. 14, 2004 invoice run).

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary process for collecting and processingunbilled usage data. As shown in FIG. 12, a moderator enters aclient-matter number or other billing reference for a conference (step1203). The billing reference may be entered, for example, before aconference, during a conference, or after a conference. This billingreference, along with other call detail record data, may be transferredfrom the conference facility to the conferencing services provider, forexample, on a periodic (e.g., daily or hourly) basis (step 1204). Theusage information is combined in real-time with customer rateinformation to estimate pre-tax charges, taxes and total charges (step1206). The results may be formatted according to customer-specifiedmethods or other specifications (step 1208). After the estimated costshave been calculated and formatted, the formatted usage information maybe exported from the conferencing services provider, e.g., using aMicrosoft Excel™ file (step 1210). In certain embodiments, the text filemay then be uploaded into usage reports component 112 to import the datainto a table, and the usage information may be summarized into a summarytable. The data may then be searched and displayed using usage reportscomponent 112, as described in more detail below with respect to FIG.16. Additional details regarding the collection and processing ofunbilled usage data may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/848,181, entitled Dynamic Reporting Tool for Conferencing Customers.

Customer 102 may access unbilled usage data by searching for allunbilled usage data or by using on any of a number of search criteriaoptions, such as office code, moderator, employee code, billing code,etc. FIG. 13 illustrates a exemplary user interface for searchingunbilled usage data. As shown in FIG. 13, customer 102 may choose one ormore values to search by, such as searching by moderator, for exampleusing the drop down list shown, or using other known methods. Forexample, if the criterion was moderator, the user may select one or moreof the moderators from the list. The user may also choose a date rangeto limit the search results. In another example, if the search criterionincluded a billing code, the user may be presented with a list ofpossible billing codes and may select one or more billing codes tocreate an unbilled usage report. After searching, the user may view anunbilled usage report.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary user interface for displaying anunbilled usage report. Data in the report may include, for example,details of each call (e.g., moderator name, time of call, office code,employee code, call date, call start, number of participants, minutes,and billing code) as well as billing information (e.g., estimatedpre-tax charges, estimated taxes, and estimated total charges). Oneskilled in the art will recognize that the unbilled usage report may bedisplayed via the Internet or other network, downloaded as an Excelspreadsheet, printed from a browser window or other display, e-mailed toan inputted address, or accessed via other means and methods.Participant-level details for each call may be available from theUnbilled Usage Report by, for example, selecting a “Call Details” buttonor link next to each call.

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary user interface displaying an unbilledusage call details report. The report unbilled usage call details maydisplay participant-level data, as shown in FIG. 15, such as a phonenumber, moderator name, office code, employee code, date, call starttime, call end time, number of participants, number of minutes,estimated pre-tax charges, estimated taxes, estimated total charges,billing code, conference ID, etc. One skilled in the art will recognizethat the unbilled usage call details report may be displayed via theInternet or other network, downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet, printedfrom a browser window or other display, e-mailed to an inputted address,or accessed via other means and methods.

Customers may use participant-level data, for example, to determineexactly how much time each participant spent in a conference. Forexample, a court reporter service may bill each call participantseparately for a conference call, and the court reporter may accessparticipant-level data to accurately determine the charges for each callparticipant. In another example, required continuing education creditmay be given to participants in a conference, such as a web or videoconference, and the accrediting body may use participant-level data toensure that the participants earn proper credits based on the time theyspent in the conference.

Usage reports component 112 may also provide a historical usage datatool to give customers access to usage information, including unbilledand previously billed data. FIG. 16 is an exemplary user interface forsearching historical participant usage data. In some embodiments,historical participant usage data may include the same summary levelcall details and billing information as the unbilled usage reports, butfor a broader range of dates (e.g., by including billed data).Participant level details and a participant's telephone number or IPaddress may be available for each conference by requesting call details.Historical usage reports may be displayed, printed from a browserwindow, downloaded to an Excel spreadsheet, or e-mailed to an inputtedaddress. The reports may contain both summary and participant-leveldetails for each call. Historical usage and participant-level unbilledusage reports, may, in some embodiments, display both participant-leveldata (e.g., telephone numbers) and billing information in one place.

Billing Reports Component

FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary billing reports component 114. Billingreports component 114 may provide customer 102 with access to billinginformation, for example, online in the form of invoices or data files.Unlike unbilled usage reports, which may be used for preliminary costestimation, billing reports contain accurate and final billing costs,and may be used, for example, for accounting purposes. Billing reportsmay be updated after each bill run, e.g. on a monthly basis. Billingreports component 114 may include, for example, an invoices tool 1702, adata files tool 1704, a time management tool 1706, and a usageinformation tool 1708.

FIG. 18 is an exemplary flow diagram for creating invoice data. Amoderator may login (step 1801). The moderator enters a client-matternumber or other billing reference before, during or after a conference(step 1803). The billing reference, along with other conference details,is extracted from conference facilities on a periodic basis (e.g.,monthly) and rated (step 1804). The rated billing information isuploaded into the conferencing services provider system for furtherprocessing (step 1806). In one embodiment, as a courtesy to itscustomers, the conferencing services provider may strip allone-participant calls from the call detail records so that no chargesare applied for those calls. For example, these calls may illustratethat moderators are familiarizing themselves with the conferencingservice prior to an actual conference.

Next, the call detail records are combined with additional customer andbilling information, such as office codes, employee codes, parentbilling information (e.g., in cases where conferences for multipleoffices are being billed to a single location), prior payments, credits,write-offs, etc. (step 1808). Once the billing and account balanceinformation is compiled, the system calculates the appropriate federaland state taxes for each conference (step 1810).

The primary usage-based charges associated with each call detail recordand any ancillary charges (such as transcription or recording fees) areconsolidated and summarized into a call summary record (step 1812). Theconferencing services provider may create a file including the callsummary record, such as a pipe-delimited text file, which may beuploaded into billing reports component 114 or exported (step 1814).Additional details regarding the collection and processing of invoicedata may be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/848,181,entitled Dynamic Reporting Tool for Conferencing Customers.

Customers may use billing reports component 114 to query historicalbilling information, for example, using data from prior invoices, orsearching by invoice date, office code, moderator name, employee code,billing code, etc. Invoice data may be displayed to customer 102, forexample via the Internet, and the data may be downloaded to an Excelspreadsheet, printed from the browser window, or emailed to auser-specified email address, for example.

In one embodiment, billing reports component 114 includes an invoicestool that enables a user to search invoice data using search criteria.In certain embodiments, the search criteria may be based on a hierarchyof offices, moderators, and billing codes for a given customer. Amoderator may be identified, for example, by employee code, and maybelong to a single office and work on multiple billing code projects.Similarly, many moderators may work on a single billing code matter.Furthermore, moderators from multiple offices may work on the samebilling code matter.

FIG. 19 is a diagram of exemplary invoice report search criteria 1800.In the embodiment shown in FIG. 19, a user may use the “First TierSearch Criteria” to narrow a search, for example by a billing code. Theuser may choose to filter the search results, using “Second Tier SearchCriteria,” for example based on office code, moderator name, andemployee code. The user may then further filter the invoice data using“Third Tier Search Criteria,” for example, by moderator name andemployee code.

In one example, if moderator name or employee code is selected, then theuser may narrow the search further by billing code. Other types ofnested or tiered searches may also be used to find invoice data. Forexample, a search begun with billing code may subsequently be narrowedby office code, moderator name or employee code and if the second searchcriterion were office code, then moderator name or employee code wouldfinally filter the search. If the second search criterion were moderatorname or employee code, there may be no other search criteria. In certainembodiments, the final options for searching are moderator name andemployee code, which would uniquely identify a single moderator. Ifeither of these is selected, the remaining search filter is billingcode.

At each step of search criteria selection, the user may choose one ormore values of the search criterion. For example, if the user selectsoffice code, a list of office codes from that customer's invoice datawill be displayed to the user. Once the user picks specific officecodes, reporting tool 106 may save these choices for the remainder ofthe search criteria selection. At that point, if the user then narrowsthe search by moderator name, only the moderators for the previouslyselected office(s) will be displayed. This is also true if the userchooses to narrow the search by billing code—only the billing codes formoderators and offices previously selected will be displayed. Thismethod of nested filtering applies regardless of the search criteriaselected. An invoice report may be generated at any level of the searchcriteria filtering and displayed, printed, downloaded, or e-mailed.

Billing reports component 114 also allows users to obtain data files ofinvoice data, using, for example, data files tool 1704. These data filesmay include, for example, Comma Separated Value (“CSV”) text files ofbilling data for each bill cycle. Data files may be updated after eachbill run, for example on a monthly basis. To provide customers withincreased flexibility and convenient billing system integration, datafiles may be downloaded directly into a customer's cost recovery orbilling systems.

Time Management

Time management tool 1704 of billing reports component 114 may provideconferencing customers with access to valuable information pertaining tothe amount of time each employee has spent on conferences. For example,a time management file may assist customers in maintaining accurate timerecords for employees, particularly employees whose time is billable toclients. The time management file may contain, for example, date,activity, begin time, end time, duration, billing code, name, employeecode, office code, and moderator information. The duration may beformatted according to billing protocols of the customer (e.g., roundedto the nearest tenth of an hour).

FIG. 20 is an exemplary user interface for searching time managementdata. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 20, a user may select a daterange and specify a format for the data file, such as Excel format orCSV text files. In this way, a time management file may be downloadedand imported into internal time-keeping systems. Time management datamay be updated periodically, for example, weekly, or on set dates, suchas at the end of each calendar month or at the end of a customer'sfiscal year.

Customers may use time management data to increase accuracy andefficiency of accounting and billing for conferencing time. For example,a moderator may participate in multiple conferences in a single day. Themoderator may record only general information about his participation inthe conferences or may inadvertently forget to record one of theconferences. This could result in the customer failing to properly billfor the moderator's time or in the moderator losing credit for timeworked. Using a time management data file provided by time managementtool 1706, the customer may double check the moderator's entered timeand correct for any errors, thus recapturing valuable time and money. Inanother example, the time management data file may be used toautomatically record billable time spent on a conference, relieving themoderator of the hassle of recording billing information for eachconference he participates in.

As described above, embodiments consistent with the present inventionprovide an integrated online reporting tool for conferencing servicesreporting to support customer billing needs. Those skilled in the artwill recognize that a system consistent with the present invention mayinclude separate components to provide each of the system's features orone or more components may be omitted or combined.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andembodiments be considered as exemplary only.

We claim:
 1. An online reporting system for conferencing servicescomprising: at least one computer processor; an account informationcomponent for tracking information for a customer; a managementcomponent for managing one or more moderators associated with thecustomer; an interface component for receiving search criteria from thecustomer and for searching a usage database using the search criteria tolocate usage information relating to the one or more moderators' usageof the conferencing services; a usage reports component for generatingonline reports related to the one or more moderators' usage ofconferencing services, the usage reports component being configured togenerate, based on the located information relating to the one or moremoderators' usage of the conferencing services, (1) a usage report thatincludes historical details of the one or more moderators' usage of theconferencing services and (2) an unbilled usage data report thatincludes estimated charges incurred by the one or more moderators' usageof the conferencing services for which the customer has not beeninvoiced; and a billing reports component for providing online reportsrelated to billed charges for conferencing services provided to thecustomer, the billing reports component being configured to generate,based on the located information relating to the one or more moderators'usage of the conferencing services, (3) a billed usage data report thatincludes final charges incurred by the one or more moderators' usage ofthe conferencing services to be invoiced to the customer.
 2. The onlinereporting system of claim 1, further comprising: a time managementcomponent for tracking time management data when the moderators conductconferences.
 3. The online reporting system of claim 1, wherein thereports related to the moderators' usage of conferencing services areprovided via one of display on a computer screen, downloading,e-mailing, or printing.
 4. The online reporting system of claim 1,wherein the reports related to billed charges for conferencing servicesprovided to the customer are provided via one of display on a computer,downloading, e-mailing, or printing.
 5. The online reporting system ofclaim 1, wherein the online reports related to the moderators' usage ofconferencing services include unbilled usage data.